Virtus Investment Advisers LLC Trims Stake in The Progressive Corporation $PGR

Virtus Investment Advisers LLC cut its stake in The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,229 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 571 shares during the period. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Progressive were worth $1,395,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 87,760 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $23,420,000 after purchasing an additional 1,192 shares in the last quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Progressive during the second quarter valued at $306,000. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP boosted its holdings in Progressive by 199.0% in the second quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP now owns 9,411 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,511,000 after acquiring an additional 6,263 shares in the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in shares of Progressive in the second quarter worth $13,583,000. Finally, Whalen Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the second quarter valued at $647,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PGR. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Progressive from $246.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Progressive from $312.00 to $301.38 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Progressive from $262.00 to $246.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Progressive from $271.00 to $257.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $261.00 to $232.00 in a research report on Friday, November 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Progressive currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $266.52.

Insider Transactions at Progressive

In other news, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,659 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.06, for a total value of $7,543,953.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 476,286 shares in the company, valued at $117,194,933.16. This represents a 6.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Steven Broz sold 1,345 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.29, for a total transaction of $307,050.05. Following the sale, the insider owned 27,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,323,176.42. This trade represents a 4.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 43,332 shares of company stock worth $10,564,558 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $228.63 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The Progressive Corporation has a twelve month low of $199.90 and a twelve month high of $292.99. The company has a market cap of $134.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.29. The company’s 50 day moving average is $227.31 and its 200 day moving average is $246.74.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The insurance provider reported $4.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.04 by ($0.59). The company had revenue of $21.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.64 billion. Progressive had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 33.88%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.58 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Profile

The Progressive Corporation, an insurance holding company, provides personal and commercial auto, personal residential and commercial property, business related general liability, and other specialty property-casualty insurance products and related services in the United States. It operates in three segments: Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, and Property.